Reserve And Extravagance
by Rainstorm Amaya Arianrhod
Summary: Kel's not anyone's lover, despite rumour, and only one man can make her wish she was. Kel/Evin fifty-themes, unrequited Miri/Evin, NOT a oneshot
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** The first half of a Kel/Evin fifty-themes, so this is worth putting on Alert and not a oneshot. Title is thanks to Kally, Kmiri Kalasin. There are about two nods to Strapless' amazing Rider!fic: see if you can spot them. Her fic is truly excellent, so if you haven't read any of it, for pity's sake go do so- but read this first. And**_ review_**; reviews make for a happy author.

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine.

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**01 Walking**

He sees her walk briskly through the Own's stables while he and several others are in the middle of a prank not befitting their station, and scrambles to hide.

**02 Waltz**

Evin knows, after a few enquiries, that the tall composed young woman is Lady Knight Keladry, who is unofficially attached to the Own, and unlike Lord Raoul, she doesn't avoid balls.

**03 Wishes**

Kel wishes some people would rid themselves of the notion that she's in love with Domitan of Masbolle.

**04 Wonder**

She wonders why people come to watch her practise her glaive; Evin could have told her it's because she looks so graceful when she does it, you can't not watch.

**05 Worry**

Kel sometimes worries that she's just one of the lads- Evin, whose interest in the lady knight is growing, thinks otherwise.

**06 Whimsy**

On returning to his room after a slight mishap involving a lady who'd somehow forgotten the existence of her betrothed, he notices the latest sonnet he'd written for her, and screws it up into a ball and throws it away. On impulse, he sits down and starts to write one- to Keladry.

**07 Waste/Wasteland**

He next sees her standing in the wasteland that was a thriving, if ill-defended town, staring blankly and unhappily into the middle distance. One hand grips her evil horse- Peachblossom, that's the name –her evil horse's bridle, and the other holds a small child's toy.

**08 Whiskey and rum**

Silently, he offers her a small hipflask of brandy; she looks like she's in shock. She waves it away, but with a smile, and then looks straight into his eyes –she's a little shorter than him- and says: "You're Evin Larse, aren't you? Commander of the Queen's Riders?"

And Evin bows flamboyantly. "My lady, I hope my reputation has not preceded me."

**09 War**

Lord Raoul is stepping down as commander, and has cheerfully tossed the post on to Kel. The first thing the lady knight commander has to do is take a band of the Own out to catch some bandits, and Evin Larse is dragged out of bed by his second, Miri, in order to take a Rider Group out to join them- Miri has to go too, and has no intention of suffering alone.

**10 Weddings**

Now she thinks of it, she saw him at Raoul and Buri's wedding- but she was dancing with Dom at the time.

**11 Birthday**

The men of the Own she knows best and her friends throw a party for her birthday: Miri Fisher, who has become a friend through Daine over the past months, turns up. Since you rarely get one without the other, Evin turns up uninvited, and when he wishes her happy birthday with his most heart-melting smile... well, her heart melts.

**12 Blessing**

Evin's laughter is a blessing when they're all muddy and soaked and in a truly horrible temper, and they've only known each other a couple of months- and Kel still isn't officially commander...

**13 Bias**

... because, unknown to Kel until recently, while the Knight Commander may pass on the post to more or less anyone he wishes, it has to be approved by a special committee first, and they're still dithering over Kel. Evin says that's bulls- sorry, Kel, bureaucracy.

**14 Burning**

There's a fire in Evin's eyes when he orders the capture of the hillmen who gave Miri the wounds that will take her out of active service with the Riders for the rest of her life.

**15 Breathing**

Evin thinks he's going to lose two people he loves in the same week when Kel manages to get herself wounded in a skirmish: but miraculously as far as Evin is concerned, both Kel and Miri stay living and breathing.

**16 Breaking**

Miri's heart is breaking, because she can see Kel's tentative, barely-formed interest in Evin, and she doesn't want Kel's heart to twist every time Evin kisses another woman the way hers does.

**17 Belief**

Kel believes in Miri's good heart, her wanting to save Kel from heartbreak, but there's something treacherous in her mind that tells her that she knows Miri's in love with Evin- and Kel wonders if jealousy plays a part here.

**18 Balloon**

As soon as Miri's gone, in a cloud of fury, Evin takes a deep breath and puffs out his cheeks in the universal gesture of 'what the hell do I do now?' How will he tell her that he doesn't want to break Kel's heart?

**19 Balcony**

The next time he has to jump off a balcony to escape a fiancé, he goes to Kel, who is still awake, and doing accounts.

**20 Bane**

Gossip is the bane of Kel's life, but it's worse than usual when she hears that someone saw Evin sneak to her rooms that night, and Miri's hurt look –_why didn't you listen to my warning?_- is cold as ice in Kel's heart.

**21 Quiet**

Kel's a quiet person, but even she has to squeak when Evin walks up to her almost silently in the stables as she's grooming Hoshi and touches the back of her neck with gentle calloused fingers to let her know he's there.

**22 Quirks**

"I'm sorry," he tells her, looking and sounding truly wretched. "It's something Miri does. A quirk of hers... she has to warn people who mention they like me to her I'll hurt them. I don't want to break your heart, Kel."

**23 Question**

"Do you really care?" she asks, because it's all she can say, and the thread of hurt in her voice is almost invisible.

**24 Quarrel**

For an answer, he kisses her and whispers 'yes' against her wind-chapped lips.

**25 Quitting**

Kel knows about the trail of broken hearts Evin has left, and she thinks she should never have allowed even that one kiss. She certainly won't allow any more.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: The second half. Disclaimer in the first half applies, and reviews lead to a happy author.

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**26 Jump**

Kel has to jump to snatch her blue Own tunic from the tree- one of the ones draped over high branches by some Riders. She wonders if Evin was the one who put it there.

**27 Jester**

He laughs, smiles, makes his jokes and behaves in typical extravagant fashion, but Kel couldn't bring herself to believe him -she _couldn't bring herself to__ be the one to__ twist __Miri's__ heart_- when he kissed her, and something's missing.

**28 Jousting**

The jousting match goes to the judges, who give the victory to Kel, but she has to be carried off the field and that's not what Miri would call a victory. Looking at Evin's terrified, pale face, she wouldn't call her succeeding in separating Kel and Evin a victory either.

**29 Jewel**

The necklace is a cheap little thing, flimsy and practically worthless, but the fake stone is just the colour of Evin's eyes. So Kel buys it.

**30 Just**

_It's not fair, it's not right_, Evin thinks angrily, mucking Ariel out in order to try and distract himself, and for more or less the first time in his life he's angry with Miri. He kicks the side of the stall frustratedly, and then the stone wall at the back- and yelps in pain. He's succeeded in breaking his toe.

**31 Smirk**

Evin growls when he sees the smirk on Nealan of Queenscove's face at the great Commander of the Riders, hopping on one foot, brought low by a broken toe.

**32 Sorrow**

Kel was only going to visit Neal, but she sees Evin's blond hair in Neal's office, hears his unmistakable turn of phrase in his light voice, and something stabs her heart and holds her motionless.

**33 Stupidity**

"You blind idiot, how can you possibly have done that?" Neal berates Evin amicably, and then looks up. "Well, that's all I can do with that toe- you'll just have to hop some more- why, Kel! What misdemeanour earns me the pleasure of this meeting?" Evin's head whips round so fast, he feels a burn in his neck muscles. _Kel?_

**34 Serenade**

Neal grins deviously at Kel and Evin. Miri may have split them up, but by Mithros, Neal would see them together and happy. "Dear Protector of the Small, how helpful of you to turn up. See our dear Commander back to his rooms, will you?"

**35 Sarcasm**

"You _pillock_, Neal!" Yuki shrieks in alarm when Neal tells her what he's done shortly afterwards.

"Never knew that before," her husband answers amiably, and gets a cuff round the ear for his pains.

**36 Sordid**

Meanwhile, Evin's room is a complete mess, and he is limping very hard, so Kel helps him over to his bed, avoiding the various obstacles along the way.

**37 Soliloquy**

Evin catches her hands as she turns to go. "No, Kel, I need to talk to you- no, listen to me-"

**38 Sojourn**

So she stays there, her hands in his, his skin warm on hers, his gentle fingers lightly gripping her wrists, and listens.

**39 Share**

It's been a while, and he still hasn't said everything he wants to say, so she goes and shuts the door to ensure privacy, and sits on the bed with him.

**40 Solitary**

It's a solitary thing to do on a lovely sunny morning, just to sit there indoors and talk, and Evin's voice falters, and he's said everything he can. He's still holding her hands, and looking into her eyes- and there's something very vulnerable and lonely there in both the hazel and the blue.

**41 Nowhere**

At first it seems as if they're going nowhere from this, and Evin's words were all for nothing, but then Kel finds her voice and says: "I believe you."

**42 Neutral**

Lady Alanna manages to retain a neutral stance on the entire affair only by making George search Evin out and put the frighteners on him- if he ever hurts Kel, he's a dead man walking.

**43 Nuance**

It's in the way he smiles at the other women, and the way he always returns to Kel's side at a ball, that lets Miri know she was wrong, and the last thing Evin would ever do is break Kel's heart: and she spends some long hours crying, cursing the leg that won't yet allow her to ride away with her Group and fight. She would do anything to distract herself from a heart that's cracked clean across.

**44 Near**

Zahir watches Kel and Evin plotting strategy over a map, heads close together, talking in a confidential murmur, and his lips thin. He likes working with the Own for the friendship of other Bazhir, but he can't stand to watch Kel and Evin together. Across the headquarters tent, Miri is watching the pair with the exact same expression.

**45 Natural**

Lying does not come naturally to Keladry of Mindelan, so Yuki has to believe her when she says she's happy, especially with that soft smile accompanying her words.

**46 Horizon**

Inness watches them ride up to Mindelan with the collapsible spyglass Kel gave him for his birthday. The sun's behind the party of Own and Riders, and he can see the two front riders; his sister, and a figure he doesn't recognise. The setting sun glints off the figure's blond hair as he laughs with Kel at some joke, and Inness notes that his sister and the unknown man ride very close together. Kel's brother frowns, and collapses the spyglass. "Hmm."

**47 Valiant**

The Mindelan brothers decide Evin is worthy of their baby sister when he manages to cheerfully sit through an entire dinner with a rather antagonistic Ilane, and they find themselves adding 'valiant' to their character-list of 'charming, clever, adores Kel'. Evin later admits to Kel that Ilane is even scarier than Buri when she's cross.

**48 Virtuous**

"I should finish this," Kel says at the midnight bell, wearily sitting up over more accounts, and "The capacity to overwork yourself is not a virtue," Evin answers firmly, and it all ends with Evin proving that yes, he can actually carry her... even if her bedroom was only just next door, so he hadn't that far to go.

**49 Victory**

The next time the Own and Riders find themselves co-operating over a particularly bad bandit raid, there's a relatively large skirmish, bloody and tiring, which they win. Afterwards, sitting around a large campfire, Kel falls asleep on Evin's shoulder, and no-one blinks an eyelid.

**50 Defeat**

"Aargh!" comes the shriek from Evin's office, and Kel, lying hidden just under his windowsill, laughs softly, for who but she would have had a key to Evin's office to lay a trap there? Kel quietly creeps away, and counts the latest prank war between the Own and the Riders won.

Evin gets his own back later, by tickling her breathless till she gasps for mercy, and neither has won and neither has lost: business as usual, then.


End file.
